


Left Hand Man

by gwendee



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Childhood Trauma, Drowning, Fluff, Getting Together, High School, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, On the part of Gakushuu and Water, Post-Canon, School trips, The boys are fine, Vacation, Yes a brief Ikeda Mention, Yes as advertised by the title there is indeed hand holding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:46:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28049460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwendee/pseuds/gwendee
Summary: Karma was actually kind of looking forward to a week with no social interaction. He can’t believe he let himself be bullied by Asano into coming on this trip.Karma goes to Okinawa with his new class, Kunugigaoka High School's class 1-A. Things are certainly different from when he last came with 3-E. For one, Asano is here.
Relationships: Akabane Karma/Asano Gakushuu
Comments: 53
Kudos: 177





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had a Thought today and I just HAD to write it!
> 
> Trigger warning: Drowning. People fall into water. Nobody dies (apart from Ikeda, who is already dead.)

**I was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations**

It’s the school’s own little tradition by now, the annual trip to Okinawa Islands for the top-scoring class at midterms. It’s no longer funded by the school, who now - with the absence of Principal Asano - is no longer allowed to endorse blatantly elitist activities such as fully funding a vacation for only one class of students. That doesn’t stop the students from organizing their own “private vacation”, even covering costs for some of their classmates - such is the perks of being part of an elite private school where everyone and their parents have more than enough money to burn.

Karma wasn’t originally going to come, and he already had a lineup of video games he was going to play and movies he was going to watch over the break week. And yet he’s now half-dozing quietly in the sun as the ferry meanders on to Okinawa Islands, having successfully been cajoled by Asano who, in more words than that, called him a “bad sport” for “flaking out on class bonding activities.”

And Karma hated being called bad at anything.

Not that he was morally opposed to “bonding” with the class. He had perhaps gained a better appreciation for human interaction in the past year with 3-E, and the new mix of first year high school students from different middle schools was a fresh breath of air, and they were no longer indoctrinated by the previous’ school ideology. 

His new classmates were pretty nice people - they were all intelligent and competitive, of course, having made it into the top-scoring class of one of the top schools in Japan. Even the old classmates from middle school have mellowed out since.

Karma’s just… well. He sees these people every day, and he was actually kind of looking forward to a week with no social interaction. He can’t believe he let himself be bullied by Asano into coming on this trip.

Karma cracks open an eye to see the boy in question, leaning against one of the railings, chatting to the other classmates. 

Karma’s surprised they managed a full attendance. The class has known each other for three months, and everyone has somehow decided to go along for an optional bonding trip. It took way longer for 3-E to get along enough to even have cordial conversations with each other, and even now Karma wouldn’t call himself friends with quite a number of them. 

Maybe that’s why Asano tried so hard to get him to come? It would have been off for a single person out of place. He has, of course, somehow settled into the role of the class leader again. It had something to do with being familiar with the school - even the past Kunugigaoka Middle School students didn’t venture onto the high school campus much, but Asano spent the first week or so regularly playing tour guide, having, in his words, “lived there from ages six to eleven because his father figured that the school’s security cameras and janitors were just as good as hiring a babysitter.” 

(Yes, Karma watched him greet the janitors by name several times, and they actually hugged him. Yes, it made all the other students coo over how compassionate he was, and subsequently vote him into student council even as a first year. Yes, Karma was sure that Asano did it on purpose but by god, Karma still had to text him when he got lost in one of the hallways trying to find the toilet.)

((Karma was going to get all the secret hiding spots and escape routes out of him one day, for sure.))

Karma closes his eyes again. Okinawa last year sure was eventful, but none of them actually managed to do any, well, vacation worthy stuff, on account of their… entire situation. Maybe this time Karma can actually try out something fun.

“Asano!” Someone yells.

Karma opens his eyes and turns to the boy’s direction, just in time to see Asano tip over the railing and into the water.

What the-

Karma reacts on instinct. He throws his phone behind him, runs to the railing, and dives into the water.

Faintly, he can hear shouting behind him, but he hits the water quite painfully, and the rush of waves from the ferry disorient him a little. He paddles to the surface and takes a quick gasp of air, blinking to get his bearings, now he needs to find Asano-

-oh. He’s here.

Asano is staring at him. “Akabane.”

“Asano.”

They stare at each other dumbly, treading water in the middle of the ocean.

Huh. Asano can swim without him. Karma’s not quite sure what to do now. 

“Did you jump in to save me?” Asano asks.

“W-” Karma blinks, because he did do just that, didn’t he? And then he feels a little bit silly now, because Asano clearly doesn’t need saving. Is Asano judging him? That was a pretty silly thing to do, wasn’t it, because Karma’s pretty sure you’re supposed to call the coast guard when someone falls overboard, not jump in to save them yourself. Now there was a possibility of two people dying instead of one. Karma feels judged.

“I would have done it for anyone,” Karma says quickly.

“I know.”

Karma feels a little embarrassed, because is Asano mocking him? But Asano has an… oddly genuine look on his face, and- oh, he’s smiling. He’s smiling at Karma. “Thank you, Akabane.”

Karma doesn’t know what to say. 

Is this the first time Asano is smiling at him? Because come to think of it now, has Karma seen Asano smile at him like, ever? He looks so stoic and grumpy all the time. He smiles when talking to people, sure, but it’s more of that customer-service sort of smile. This time, he’s beaming at Karma like-

“Let’s swim back,” Asano says.

They start paddling in the direction of the mainland, because swimming the way to Okinawa would actually kill them from exhaustion. Karma lets himself get distracted by the methodological swimming strokes, breathe in, out, in, out-

And then a wave hits them, pulling them both under. When they break the surface Karma finds himself separated from Asano. 

He’s lucky they both have distinctive hair colors. Imagine if it was Nagisa here. Karma would lose that boy like a needle in a needlestack.

Karma paddles over. “Hey- oof!”

Asano latches onto him, briefly pulling them under again, trying to drown Karma for his good deeds- wait, no, this is a hug. Asano is hugging him. This is so weird.

Asano is shaking. He’s shaking a lot. And he’s practically gripping onto Karma’s shoulders now a little bit too painfully, and their proximity would be awkward if Asano’s eyes weren’t so wide and unfocused and panicked.

“This,” Karma says, “would be the worst time to tell me you have a phobia of water.”

“My older brother drowned.”

Um. 

“I… didn’t know you had an older brother.”

“That’s because he drowned.”

“Uh… don’t think about that, okay?” Karma says. God, he sucks at comforting people. “Um, I’m here with you. We’re… in this together. We’ll swim back, okay? It’d be alright.” 

Karma leans so he’s floating on his back. Asano’s dead weight now, clinging onto him like a lifeline. Karma guesses his initial appearance distracted Asano from this… whole drowning debacle, but getting pulled under a second time was-

“Shit!” Another wave hits them. When they resurface, separated again, Karma quickly swims over and hauls Asano close to him. 

Asano scrabbles onto Karma, gasping for air. His eyes are squeezed shut.

Yeah, no, Karma has to get them to land as soon as possible. 

Wait, that’s a speedboat. It’s headed in their direction.

Oh, thank god.

“Hey, Asano,” Karma says. “The coast guard is coming for us, okay? Just a little bit more and we’ll be out of the water. Human bodies are naturally buoyant. See, we’re floating right now.”

Asano doesn’t let go of him. He's making a little keening noise, and Karma would pat him on the head if he weren't using his arms to try to keep them floating.

“Uhh… the sky is blue, birds can fly, I’m better than you in math.”

“...N-no you aren’t.”

Karma grins. “Yeah, I am. Who got full scores for our math midterm?”

“O-one p-p-point.”

“One point too less,” Karma says. He sees another wave coming, and he grips onto Asano’s wrist before they sink again. When they resurface, Asano immediately comes to latch back onto him. The poor boy is shivering.

The speedboat stops next to them. “You boys fell out of the ferry?" The coast guard tosses a buoy over, and Karma disentangles Asano from him to stick him to the buoy instead. The both of them get dragged up the boat.

The coast guard affixes Karma with a look. “You’re the one that jumped in after him.”

“Y-yeah.” Out of the water, it’s freezing. They get two large towels handed to them, and Asano wraps himself in his. He looks like a tiny drowned rat. Karma, for some inexplicable reason, throws his own towel over Asano’s head and starts drying his hair off. 

He gets affixed with another deadpan look from the coast guard, and gets handed a third towel. “That was very dangerous. You should never jump in after someone.”

Karma’s kind of glad he did, or Asano would be in worse shock now. “Yeah,” he agrees. 

The boat turns around and goes towards Okinawa.  “Your friend okay?” Coast Guard asks.

Asano looks a little dazed. He's shivering and staring into space, but every errant wave that splashes the side of the boat makes him jolt a little.

“He has some, uh, water related phobias,” Karma says. He wonders how awkward it would be to pull Asano into a hug, but they were clinging onto each other for life a few moments ago, and Asano looks like he really needs that hug. 

Oh, Asano is really warm.

Karma feels the adrenaline leave him, and suddenly he’s really tired. Asano presses himself to Karma, quiet and pliant and warm, but the bumps from the speedboat keep him awake. He tries to listen into the radio to distract himself as Coast Guard speaks into it, updating their whereabouts.

“Hey, Asano,” Karma mumbles to the bundle in his arms.

“Mmm?”

“Told you we’ll be okay.”

“Mmm.”

They get back to Okinawa, cold and safe and sound. 

They’re hauled to the Guard Station first, to get sprayed down with warm water to make sure neither of them have hypothermia, and get into a fresh change of clothes (generic linen pajamas from the resort). They give their statements (apparently Asano was hit by a ball, which is a pretty cliché and funny-in-hindsight kind of way to fall overboard, but Karma refrains from commenting), Karma gets lectured again on not diving overboard to save people, and then they meet their classmates coming out of the ferry.

Sakakibara is the first one there in full sprint, rushing past Karma and plucks Asano off the ground. “Gakushuu!”

The other three of their five person friend group run over too, and then - for some reason - they haul Karma into some large group hug. 

“Ack!” Being hugged by Koyama was NOT the welcome he expected!

The rest of their classmates come bursting forth in a flurry of relief and worry, some of them close to tears, some of them actually crying. 

Someone hands Karma his phone. Oh, it’s cracked. Guess that’s what he expected from tossing it onto the deck.

Then they’re bustled into the Okinawa resort. Karma’s exhausted, and he’s not sure who checks them all in or who helps him drags his luggage to one of the rooms, but he’s already in pajamas and he really wants a nap. 

Despite being a class of rich kids, single rooms for everyone is perhaps too much of an unnecessary expense. Someone had put his bag onto one of the four beds so that’s the one he takes, and Asano who wanders in after him was herded to the bed adjacent and is now being fawned over by Sakakibara.

“I’m tired, Ren,” Asano says to him, “I want to take a nap.”

“Ah, right! You two must be exhausted.” Sakakibara beams sunnily at both of them. “Get some rest. Dinner isn’t until a few hours. I’ll be taking the bed across you, Gakushuu, and Araki’s taking the fourth. We’ll bring our stuff in, in a little bit.” 

Then he turns to Karma, suddenly overwhelmingly earnest. “Thank you, Akabane.”

Before Karma can respond, Sakakibara is off, leaving him and Gakushuu alone.

Karma stares at him. Asano stares back.

Then Asano gets up from his bed, sits down next to Karma, and silently hugs him in an awkward side arm-swing.. 

Karma, again, has no verbal response. But if there’s anything he learnt about Asano today - aside from his debilitating fear of the water - is that Asano is surprisingly small and light and readily lets himself get manhandled by Karma given certain circumstances. So Karma does exactly that, pulls his new warm bolster under the blankets, and immediately falls asleep.

Karma feels as speechless and Ren seems when he’s woken up. Yeah, Karma thinks. He won’t know what to say either if he saw someone in Nagisa’s bed either.

“We brought you both dinner,” Ren says.

The rest of the Virtuosos are in the room, unabashedly staring.

Karma makes to sit up, but the hand Asano has over his chest keeps him pinned to the bed.

“You awake?” Karma asks.

“No,” Asano says, tightening his arm around Karma’s torso.

The Virtuosos giggle. Ren looks like he can’t decide if he wants to laugh or cry.

“Sakakibara got us both dinner,” Karma says.

Asano cracks open one eye, stares at Sakakibara, and makes grabby-hands in his direction.

“I’m not letting you drink soup lying down,” Sakakibara says.

Asano finally lets Karma go as he sits up. “What time is it?”

“It’s seven,” Sakakibara says. “The class is planning to head down to the beach after this. According to Awase, Jupiter and Saturn are supposed to be visible tonight.”

“Mm,” Asano says sleepily. “Want to go stargaze, Akabane?”

“W-what?” And suddenly with the closeness and the question and the grinning faces of Asano’s friends, Karma feels like he's been caught with the hand in the cookie jar for some reason. The cookie jar being Asano, and the hand being - okay, the metaphor got away from him. “Why are you asking me?”

To make matters worse, Asano snuggles fully into Karma’s side. “Up to you,” he mumbles, not answering Karma’s question in the slightest. 

Karma feels like he’s acquired a cat. He’s saved a little kitten from drowning and now it was here, digging his little claws into his shoulder.

“Ow,” Karma says.

“Sorry,” Asano says, poking fine red lines at Karma’s neck. “I scratched you.”

Sakakibara chokes.

“From using me as a lifebuoy,” Karma says quickly.

“I’ll pay for your phone,” Asano says. There Karma's phone sits on the bedside table, a nice crack running through the screen.

"You don't have to," Karma says, embarrassed.

“You lost yours in the middle of the ocean,” Sakakibara scolds. “Also you have to call your dad back now.” He holds up his phone, showing a screen of many many calls from a contact labelled “Scary Demon Man”. 

“Oh?” Asano sounds surprised. “You told him?”

“You almost died,” Seo says. “Yes, we told him.”

Ah. Given what happened to Asano's… older brother, Principal Asano must be very worried.

Asano borrows Sakkaibara’s phone and heads off to the balcony for some privacy, leaving Karma with the four staring holes into his soul. 

“Um,” Karma says.

“Our Gakushuu can be very cute, no?” Seo says, which is not at all what Karma was expecting him to say, and immediately Sakakibara whirls around and smacks him with a pillow.

“What he means to say is,” Araki says, pauses. “Well, I guess that’s exactly what he meant to say.” And then he gets smacked with the pillow as well.

Asano pokes his head in from the balcony. “Akabane? My dad wants to talk to you.”

**The "older brother" in question does, in fact, refer to Ikeda. This is not a fic where they're actually brothers, more of that "my father's student who he probably loved more than me so he's kind of like a sibling by proxy and I guess I saw him around as a kid and he was always nice to me so I did like him but now he's dead and indirectly caused me so much pain so our relationship is complicated" is a mouthful to say, so older brother it is!**

**And yes, Karma would 100% jump in even if it was anyone else.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can taste the OOC in this fic but I just want some nice soft Karushuu vibes everyone

**("This better not be a joke, I swear to god, Sakakibara!-"**

**"It's not, it's not," Sakakibara is saying, but he's choking back on his sobs too much to respond, and Araki takes the phone from him.**

**"It's not a joke," Araki says. "The coast guard- he fell overboard, I mean- the coast guards are looking for them, we'll keep you updated-"**

**"Oh my god, Gakushuu?!" The ex-Principal actually screams in Araki's ear. It's the first time Araki's heard him call Asano by name - and what a terrible occasion it marks. "Gakushuu?! Oh- g-" And he cuts himself off with a shaku breath.)** ****

"I told that good-for-nothing brat that I wouldn't miss him if he dared die on a useless school trip," Asano's father is saying. Asano's father is also crying.  Asano is humming contently to himself, while cutting off the circulation from Karma's arm. Karma is wondering why Asano called him out to hear his father crying on speakerphone.

"Um," Karma says.

"This is what happens when you choose to go on a useless vacation instead of staying at home to study!" The ex-principal sobs. 

"It's okay," Asano says peacefully. "Even if I die, I'll haunt you for the rest of your life."

Karma doesn't know what kind of weird dysfunctional family exchange he walked into, but… it's kind of sweet? Karma would have never imagined the Asano family dynamic to be like this, that's for sure. From what little he knows, they were on genuinely terrible terms in middle school - not that Karma thought the then-Principal would be nonchalant of his younger son dying, but he didn;t expect such an emotionally charged response from the man. But everyone has really changed over the year, haven't they?

"Akabane," The ex-Principal says, suddenly serious. "I'll buy you a house."

"S-sorry?" Karma squeaks. 

"A house, yes," the ex-Principal nods to himself. "A car, as well. Your college tuition."

"W-"

"Come for dinner, afterwards," he says, voice commanding even over the phone, and Karma snaps to attention even though the ex-principal no longer has authority over him. 

Karma tries, futilely, "I don't need a-"

"Gakushuu Asano!" The ex-Principal cuts him off and oh, he's crying again. "Don't ever scare me like that ever again!"

Asano manages to coax his father into hanging up after promising to not fall off any more boats, Karma gets a college sponsorship, and then they walk back into the room, where the Virtuosos are giggling amongst themselves.

The both of them change into their own clothes and head down to one of the function rooms, where the class was watching Ayaka demolish Tsuchiyuya at pool. 

At their entrance, the class screams, and half of them swarm Gakushuu in a mass hug. Another half head to Karma where instead of close physical contact - thank god - they offer him fist-bumps, high-fives, more emotional thanks, and a soft drink can.

Asano gets let out of the hug. He looks befuddled, and his hair is a mess.

"Let's go to the beach," Tsuchiyuya says, happy to be away from the pool table.

Ayaka pockets her last striped ball. "Sure. That's another meal you owe me."

"Aww," Tsuchiyuya says.

They head down to the beach. The stars are shining out tonight, glittering like a diamond tapestry, and the permanently crescent moon shines extraordinarily bright. Karma feels a little melancholy looking at it - it's been a year, then, hasn't it? The last time Karma was here in Okinawa, he was with 3-E and Koro-sensei. It feels a little odd to be back here without the goal of assassination. Karma thought it would mean a boring trip, but it's been nothing but nerve-wracking this entire while. 

Awase has lugged out his portable telescope. Asano stands a little bit aways with the Sakakibara, the both of them looking out into the sea. Sakakibara has an arm around Asano's shoulder. 

Karma lets himself get roped into a game of trying to catch the scuttling crabs that are darting along the shore in low tide, but no one has Mach-20 speed and crabs have four times the number of legs. All Karma manages to get is sandy fingers and a nice seashell which he pockets. Hami manages to find a little clam, and so the class starts to build a catapult to punt the clam back into the ocean.

Eventually Asano gravitates back to him. The Virtuosos now engrossed in finding catapult-worthy driftwood, except for Araki who is now fiddling with his camera settings. 

"How are you feeling?" Karma asks.

Asano shrugs. 

They both look away, soft waves in the moonlight. 

"I'm not afraid of water," Asano says suddenly. "I'm afraid of drowning."

"I think most people are afraid of drowning," Karma says.

Asano fiddles with his thumb. "You aren't."

Karma smiles a little, lifting his chin. "I'm Karma Akabane, I'm not afraid of anything!" He puts an arm over Asano and tugs him closer. "Well, I'll be honest. I was actually really terrified. You were just too scared to tell."

"You jumped in to save someone," Asano mumbles. "I wouldn't have done that."

"It'd be terrible if you did," Karma agrees. "But I shouldn't have done that either. We're both very lucky."

Asano looks away for a second. "Yeah."

"You don't have to be able to save everyone, you know," Karma murmurs, and looks up at the moon. 

"Hey you two!" Yuna calls. "Come look at Saturn!" 

"Let's go see Saturn," Karma says, tugging Asano along. They walk past the catapult, driftwood stacks held together by ocean litter. Their classmates have managed to procure a small stack of clams for launching into the air.

The five students crowded around the telescope start bursting into song when Karma and Asano arrive.

"What?" Asano says, sounding amused.

"~Nearrrrrrr, farrrrrr, whereverrrrr you arrrrrre~"

Sakakibara smacks them all with a piece of seaweed. 

Jupiter and Saturn are round pinpricks of light in the viewfinder. Jupiter has a red tinge to it. Stars blink and planets don't.

"Hey, both of you are Capricons," Yuna says. 

"It's over there," Awase says, pointing. "See those points?"

"Think so," Karma squints. 

Karma feels Asano lean over. "You're looking in the wrong direction," he teases.

"Like you know stars," Karma says lamely.

"I was in the junior astronomy field competition," Asano says.

"Of course you were."

"I lost to Awase."

"Of course you did."

Asano elbows him in the ribs. 

Awase snickers. "After he lost, he gave me a pitch to come to Kunugigaoka High."

"And you listened to him?" Karma lets out a dramatic sigh.

"You did, too," Awase points out.

Touché.

Clam 17 is launched the furthest. Clams 3, 7 and 19 get to go onto the catapult twice, because they plop back onto the sand. 

It's midnight by the time everyone heads back and washes up.

Asano must still be tired because he falls asleep again almost immediately. Sakakibara and Araki are still awake, the both of them talking quietly, when Karma finds himself nodding off.

When Karma wakes up, it's still dark out. Sakakibara and Araki are blissfully snoring away. On the other hand, Asano's bed is neatly made with a notable lack of Asano in it.

Karma pads onto the balcony. Asano is leaning against the railing, his cheek resting on a hand, as he blinks sleepily into the sea. 

"Hey," Karma says. 

Asano, rather cutely, makes grabby-hands in Karma's direction. 

"You're clingy when you're sleepy, huh," Karma says, as Asano latches onto his arm. 

"Mhm," Asano agrees, nuzzling into Karma's shoulder.

There's a faint glow in the horizon. The sun must be rising soon.

"You're a very tactile person, Asano," Karna says. "It's not really what I expected.

"You saved me," Asano mumbles.

"Perhaps so," Karma says, wondering if he should really the taking advantage of Asano's sleepy I'll-answer-Karma's-questions state. "Would you be like this if Sakakibara saved your life?" 

Asano giggles. "Mhm."

Karma wonders if that's fair, given that Sakakibara is tactile enough with Asano already. "What about Seo? Or Araki? Or Koyama?"

"They wouldn't save me," Asano says.

Ouch.

"That's okay, I wouldn't jump into water to save them either." Pause. "Seo can't swim anyways."

Oh, Karma was going to hold that over his head forever.

"So I shouldn't feel special to be getting this special cuddly treatment, is what you're saying, since anyone who whisks you off your feet can get it."

Asano lifts his head to survey Karma, humming. "You can feel a little special," he decides. "Not too much."

"Honored," Karma says.

Asano sighs and settles into Karma's hug again.

"I can't believe that actually happened to us..." Karma thinks he should find this much weirder and more uncomfortable than it is, but maybe there's something about going through life or death with someone? He'd never actually come this close to helplessness with any other member of 3-E. 

"I wonder if that's how scared Ikeda must have felt," Asano mumbles.

Was Ikeda the brother?

"We're okay now," Karma says, for the lack of anything else better to say.

"Mhm," Asano says. 

**Please give lil boy Gakushuu a break. He had a nightmare and it was just him drowning in the water until dream-Karma showed up and hugged him. He's running on Karma-saved-my-life juice.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gakushuu: I'm so weak, i'm afraid of mundane everyday things like poison, drowning, being shot,  
> Karma: I think many many people are afraid of those things as well

**Author's Note:**

> AHHHH I just had the thought of Gakushuu falling into water, Karma jumping to save him, and there being some anticlimactic awkwardness as Karma realizes Gakushuu can swim (so it's them floating above the water staring at each other, both going "..." "..".)
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> And yes, the title is taken from Riptide - Vance Joy.


End file.
